Beebe asks for $1.1M for health education aid LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - Gov. Mike Beebe on Wednesday asked to use $1.1 million from a state reserve fund to make up for a shortfall in a program that helps students pursuing medical degrees that Arkansas schools don't offer pay for tuition at schools in other states. Beebe said he'll seek legislative approval to help the Arkansas Health Education Grants program using money from the state's Rainy Day Fund, which will have $34.4 million startin...

4 insurance companies interested in Ark. exchange LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - Four insurance companies have told Arkansas officials they plan to participate in the marketplace that will be created under the federal health care law. The Arkansas Insurance Department on Tuesday announced that the companies sent letters of intent to participate in the insurance exchange. The companies also submitted their planned service areas for 2014, which the department said it will review for adequacy. The com...

3 remain missing after flooding Y CITY (AP) — The search in western Arkansas for three people — including a state wildlife offer — was suspended while officials wait for a river to recede. Arkansas Game and Fish Commission spokesman Keith Stephens said Saturday the river in Scott County near the Oklahoma state line was too dangerous for search efforts and officials hope to resume the search Sunday. Wildlife officer Joel Campora had gone with Scott County Sheriff Cody Carpent...

Pryor defends gun vote at ’sportsmen’ town hall LITTLE ROCK (AP) — U.S. Sen. Mark Pryor defended his vote against expanded background checks for firearms purchases on Saturday before a town hall audience that included the father of a student killed in last year’s Connecticut school shooting, saying the measure wouldn’t have prevented those deaths. Speaking at a “Sportsmen Town Hall” in downtown Little Rock, the Arkansas senator said he voted against the gun measure earlier this year because...

Storms moving through Southern Plains, Ozarks LITTLE ROCK (AP) — Severe weather hammered the nation’s heartland again Friday, with tornado warnings posted in the Southern Plains and Arkansas recovering from a flash flood that killed a county sheriff who was checking on a home surrounded by rising water. Well before Oklahoma’s first thunderstorms fired up at late afternoon, the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Okla., was already predicting a violent evening. From the Texas border to near...

State officials ask court to uphold ’heartbeat’ test in law LITTLE ROCK (AP) — Arkansas officials on Friday asked a federal judge to uphold the part of a new state law banning abortions 12 weeks into a pregnancy that requires doctors to test for a fetal heartbeat before performing the procedure. The state attorney general’s office asked U.S. District Judge Susan Webber Wright to allow the state to enforce that portion of the law while the constitutionality of the 12-week ban is being challenged in her ...

Judge rejects guilty plea from ex-state treasurerLITTLE ROCK (AP) — A federal judge has rejected a guilty plea from former Arkansas state Treasurer Martha Shoffner, who was accused of steering state business to a broker in return for cash payments. Shoffner tried to plead guilty Friday, but U.S. District Judge Leon Holmes wouldn't accept her plea because Shoffner said she didn't intentionally send the state's bond business to the broker. Holmes said he couldn't accept her guilty plea because...

Weather kills 3 in state; more storms to strike regionY CITY (AP) — Flash flooding and tornadoes killed three people in Arkansas overnight in the nation's latest severe weather outbreak. Among the dead was a county sheriff who drowned while checking on residents whose house was eventually swamped by rising water. More bad weather was poised to strike the nation's midsection Friday, with tornadoes and baseball-sized hail forecast from Oklahoma to Missouri. But Thursday night and early Friday the d...

Tornadoes touch down in Arkansas, OklahomaOKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Two tornadoes hit Arkansas after at least three tornadoes touched down in Oklahoma, including one in Tulsa, on Thursday as a powerful storm system moved through the middle of the country. At least nine people were injured. All nine of the injured Thursday were in Arkansas; two of the injuries were attributed to a lightning strike in Rogers. Lightning was also believed to have started a fire that destroyed two floors of a c...

Mayflower residents sue Exxon after oil spill MAYFLOWER (AP) — Dozens of residents and property owners are suing ExxonMobil Pipeline Company two months after a pipeline ruptured and spilled thousands of barrels of oil in the central Arkansas city of Mayflower. Attorneys for a number of residents and property owners filed the lawsuit in Faulkner County on Tuesday seeking damages after the company’s Pegasus pipeline ruptured on March 29 and spilled the oil in Mayflower. Shawn Daniels, one o...

AG: Judge orders travel agent to pay $4MLITTLE ROCK (AP) — Attorney General Dustin McDaniel said a judge ordered a travel agent to pay more than $4 million in penalties and restitution after he allegedly took money without providing a promised trip to Hawaii for two Arkansas marching bands. McDaniel’s office said Thursday that a Pulaski County judge ordered Ope Saaga to pay more than $400,000 in restitution and $3.86 million in civil penalties. McDaniel sued Saaga last year, allegin...

High court dismisses lottery name lawsuit LITTLE ROCK (AP) — A businessman who said he owns trademarks to the lottery’s name can’t sue the Arkansas Lottery Commission, the state Supreme Court ruled Thursday. In a 4-3 decision, the high court reversed a lower court’s decision and dismissed a lawsuit from Ed Dozier’s company, Alpha Marketing, against the lottery commission. The court said the commission is a state entity entitled to sovereign immunity, which prohibits lawsuits against t...

Pryor defends vote against gun measure in 1st ad LITTLE ROCK (AP) — U.S. Sen. Mark Pryor pushed back Thursday against gun control advocates, using the first ad of his Arkansas re-election bid to defend his vote against expanded background checks for firearms purchases. Pryor's campaign said the 30-second spot will begin airing throughout Arkansas on Friday, more than 17 months before the election. It comes as the two-term Democratic lawmaker already faces an expensive television blitz from g...

Former audit chief named Arkansas treasurerLITTLE ROCK (AP) — Former legislative audit chief Charles Robinson has been named the new state treasurer. Gov. Mike Beebe made the announcement Wednesday morning. Robinson worked for 34 years in the Division of Legislative Audit, serving 28 years as the legislative auditor before retiring in 2007. Robinson replaces Martha Shoffner, who stepped down last week after she was charged with extortion by federal prosecutors. Robinson will fill the r...

Wal-Mart pleads guilty in hazardous waste case Wal-Mart Stores Inc. will pay $81.6 million after pleading guilty on Tuesday to criminal charges of improperly disposing of fertilizer, pesticides and other hazardous products that were pulled from stores in California and Missouri because of damaged packaging and other problems. The retail giant entered the plea in federal court in San Francisco to misdemeanor counts of violating the Clean Water Act and another environmental law regulating pe...

Doctors: Keep group out of abortion case LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - Opponents of an Arkansas law that bans most abortions 12 weeks into a pregnancy say a counseling group shouldn't be allowed to help defend the new restriction in federal court. Two doctors who are suing the state over the 12-week ban asked a federal judge Tuesday to deny Concepts of Truth's request to intervene in the lawsuit over the law's constitutionality. The American Civil Liberties Union of Arkansas and the Cente...

Riverfest arrests include ticket-taking vendor LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - Assault, theft and public drunkenness are among the offenses police say people committed during Little Rock's annual Riverfest. The three-day music and food festival wrapped up on Sunday. Police say a Sherwood man was accused of stealing 150 tickets from the beer booth where he worked and using the scrip to buy food and admission to rides. The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reports ( http://is.gd/SEVQQc ) an allegedly drunk...

Lawmakers approve $16.5M for exchange LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - Arkansas lawmakers on Tuesday approved spending nearly $16.5 million in federal funds to continue setting up a marketplace where more than 500,000 people can shop for insurance under the health care law. The Arkansas Legislative Council approved spending two grants from the federal government for Arkansas to set up its insurance exchange. The state has received more than $43 million in federal funds for the exchange. T...

Grandmother in Pine Bluff killed by stray gunfire PINE BLUFF, Ark. (AP) - Pine Bluff police say a grandmother was fatally wounded in crossfire when several people started shooting. Authorities say 54-year-old Carol Baker was shot dead at about 11:30 p.m. Monday. Four people were arrested. Little Rock television station KTHV reports ( http://is.gd/fknSkF ) that Baker had gone to her daughter's home to pick up her grandchildren. The gunfire erupted when she arrived. Pine Bluff police Lt. Denise...